Thursday, December 27, 2007

Once upon a time I had grand visions in my head of starting a food blog. Such grand visions the darn thing never got off of the ground but I do have a bunch of photos from that time period burning a hole in my hard drive. So, I'm just going to post some of them here for you all, although I'm pretty sure that most people hate recipe posts. The band marches on.

Here at my household, we love some Asian-inspired food. I say Asian-inspired because I seriously doubt that most of my Asian dishes are made anywhere east of the United States. Chopsticks? We use forks. We like pot stickers, egg rolls, Thai lettuce wraps, etc. etc.. Pork Gyoza aka. pot stickers (you can also sub in chicken or beef or whatever suits your fancy or what is in your fridge) is one of those meals that I almost always have the components on hand for and is pretty easy to throw together to feed the crew with.

Just a note, don't assemble and then freeze them all together in a Ziploc. You get a huge ball of pot sticker mush. It is still delicious but you can hardly call them pot stickers at that point. I freeze the meat separate from the wrappers OR if you are ambitious, you can freeze them on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bag. That method is for overachievers only though.

To assemble these little pockets of deliciousness, set up a pot sticker "station. Basically, have your meat and a spoon ready. Open the package of wrappers. Have a small bowl of water at the ready. Have a cookie sheet and a moist paper towel close by.

Now, there are two options here. One, you can go all Chinese restaurant style and pleat your pot stickers or you can go lazy-Shannon style and just fold. Either way, you will need to wet the perimeter of the wrapper on one half so that you can achieve a proper seal. Put a small dollop of your meat mixture in the middle, and fold the halves together, pinching as you go.I put them on the cookie sheet and cover with the paper towel so they don't dry out as I go.To cook, heat a heavy pan over medium with a bit of oil in the bottom. Brown both sides of the pot stickers and then pour a quarter cup or so of chicken broth in the pan, reduce to low, and cover. Cook for approximately 4 minutes. Repeat in batches as required.

I serve with Costco-purchased egg rolls, white rice, soy sauce, and homemade sweet and sour sauce, and Sriracha if you like spicy.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Anyways, as you all know, Christmas is done and over. Later today I am going to remove the ornament from the tree, wash the muslin fabric I used as a tree skirt, and Jeff will cart off the tree and toss it in the burn pile.

But before we do that, I'll share our Christmas with you.

We started on Christmas Eve at my parents house. It was great with all the cousins running around and playing with their new toys and just having a blast.

My mom got this necklace that I shared earlier:

My sister received these earrings:Both of these pieces were made by Sudlow. She has an awesome Etsy shop. Go, spend some of your Christmas money there, you will NOT be disappointed. The necklace is tiny and gorgeous as are the earrings.

My father and brother-in-law both got tools and gift certificates (not because I don't like them but because I knew that they would both like them) to Harbor Freight.

And the cousins got an assortment of mainsteam toys.

That night, Jeff and I finished wrapping and hanging Darsie's stocking, only to hear at about 11pm, "ooohhh, presents" and see this...Woops. Luckily, she is three, so we were able to convince her to open one gift and go to bed. hooray!

Christmas morning brought this:and subsequently this....I made Elise a kitty for Christmas and Darsie an owl backpack (you can see it hanging precariously from the tree above) and they both hate them. So, hooray for homemade items! In fact, Darsie's favorite toy was this:

It cost $1 from the Dollar Store.

Jeff and I budgeted $50 for each other and I think we both did pretty well and we also had a BLAST!Jeff got: motorcycle gloves (he rides a harley to work every day, rain or shine and his welding gloves were molding, ick!), a case of Coke from Mexico, two tickets to the movie theater, and a subscription to some Hot Rod magazine. I got: Old Friend slippers (get some, they rule), a mat cutter so I can finally get some photos framed, and a gift card to Starbucks (dooooo wa!).

Christmas afternoon we headed to Jeff's parents house and enjoyed a totally awesome standing rib roast and more gifts.

It was seriously one of the best Christmas's ever. And you know, the best part for me was watching the kids play with all of their toys. It was just so much fun.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Swistle recently had a post up about what to buy the "pinholes" in our lives (aka, assholes). We all have those select few or one or twenty that we don't want to put 5 hours sewing them mittens or put the effort of picking out the PERFECT gift for. Or am I the only one?

So, what do YOU buy these people? Candy? Underwear? A box of coal? My standby present is normally photos of the girls but there are just some people who doesn't even deserve that. The alternate options - Gift Cards.

These are even good for those people that we don't really know what to get for them, like teachers.

I guess the only downfall is that then the person knows how much you REALLY like them. I would find it hilarious to give someone $2 at Starbuck's. Just enough to give them a gift card but not enough to buy a latte. priceless. and mean.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Because I'm lame, I almost always give away what a present is before that person actually gets it. I get all giddy and excited and hooray (or as Darsie says, dooo-wa!) and yippee-like.

So, in true Shannon fashion, I'm going to share a couple of gifts. SO, if you are a member of my family (except for my husband) STOP and go make me cookies.

We are buying the majority of presents. In fact, the cousins are all getting something with a major toy company logo on it somewhere. I only have so much time for handcrafting (although I guess I could buy handcrafted items. In my defense, I asked Jeff about a puzzle for the boy cousin and he said that boys hate puzzes).

I finished this kitty the other night as a gift for Elise. She has her eye on D's pet octopus and when given the opportunity clutches it and tries to eat the eyes off of it, so I thought a stuffed creature was appropriate. AND, when I saw this web site, I knew I wanted to make her one. (Go to http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/ and click on free downloads on the right, the kitty pattern is there).

Say hi to the kitty! If you do want to make one, let me know as I have a couple of tried and true tricks. I also used fleece instead of buttons for the eyes because of the aforementioned eating of eyes things. I also have a very jealous three-year old who now wants a pink cat.I also bought these earrings for my sister.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Oh Internet, fruit of my desires, how I wish I could share with you. I am getting super excited about Christmas. This year, instead of our usual mad dash on Christmas Eve to buy presents for EVERYONE, I'm planning ahead, like a whole month ahead! (Just shut up all you people that start buying for next year the DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS!).

And I would like to share, I really would. But my husband reads my blog. He has been sworn NOT to look at the bank statement (don't worry, I'm under my $50 budget!) but I can't trust him to not READ.

I would love to share the lovely things I am creating and buying for other people but I'm clueless as to who reads my blog and since it is easy to find me, I can't divulge. I just CAN'T! Even though I am super tempted.

I feel like such a tease.

I will share what I'm planning on making the girls (key term...planning). Darsie will be getting a tutu, a shirt appliqued with a D on it, a ribbon d-ring belt, and possibly and owl backpack. Elise will be getting a stuffed duck and a shirt appliqued with an E on it. Jeff will be getting a lump of coal.

Now that I said that, I guess I need to get working on these things. Tomorrow I am off to the fabric store. WOOHOO! And Target for t-shirts! Be still my beating heart.

OH HEY!!!!!We got blinds for the windows in our bedroom. I know you are all super excited. So, let me unveil the results....

dun duh DUH!!!!

As you can see from the above photo, we live in a veritable dorm room. Darsie sleeps in her bed tucked into our sitting area (see left side of photo) and Elise is sleeping in her bassinett on the right side of the photo. The bed is never made and I need to take those boxes out to the garage for recycling.

But look! BLINDS! We went with 1 1/2" faux wood blinds from selectblinds.com. They were a good price, I think $150 for the four windows in our room. Our only obstacle came trying to install those valance covers. They came with these funky clip things that would NOT WORK. Our solution, double-sided velcro and shabang! Four full complete and functional blinds.

Here is a post-barf photo of the preschooler. She is all better, I think. No puke at least. I kept her home from school on Monday and Tuesday but I think we are going to brave physical therapy today. She may or may not have passed on her bug to the head of the household but he went to work, so we shall see if he comes back or not. He is the Brawny man though, so he would have to be dying or something to come home.

I just had to share this photo, too. You may not realize what has occurred here if you haven't been to my home but just imagine going SEVEN MONTHS using your fingers and your toes to open cabinet doors. (HINT, Jeff put up the door hardware). Isn't it pretty and shiny? Now I have to go through and wipe all eight million cabinets because seven months of no hardware makes for some really icky cabinets.

Monday, December 03, 2007

I'm still here, plugging along. I've just been in a funk the last week or so, somewhat akin to a week old can of tuna. The weather here in the pacific northwest is definitely not helping. I joked to Jeff that he needs to start building an ark. It has been pouring for the last 24-hours and our backyard looks like a muddy river. It snowed the 24 hours prior to our torrential downpour and that was beautiful but short lived.

We also have a sick preschooler. Everyone (except for the dog) had multiple baths/showers yesterday due to being thrown up on. There was a puke incident this morning with just juice to drink, so I am keeping D on water for the time being. Poor thing. She is enjoying the tv a lot at least.

I'm scouring Etsy for some really cool items as I need to get my gifts ordered ASAP.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I don't know about your household, but in ours, octopuses (octopi?) reign supreme. Darsie has one stuffed creature that she adores...and it is an octopus dubbed "legs". When I saw these, I just thought they were cool, although they may be one of the strangest Etsy picks to date. Check out bunny X productions for interesting polymer creations.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Back to the ol' Etsy board. I stumbled cross this shop today and I think that the strawberry lanyards are so sweet. For me it is all about the details and that dangling leaf really calls to me. So, visit bloodybunny for lanyards, key holders, and other neat items.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

I think my head is finally clearing from all of the tripofan and I can get back to doing what I do best (hahha), blogging. Ok, well posting recipes and Etsy picks perhaps?

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. This was the first Thanksgiving dinner AND turkey that I have ever attempted so waking up Wednesday night/Thursday morning after a particular disturbing dream about how Martha would do Thanksgiving was not entirely out of the ordinary.

It was all to waste because everything came out great. I did this cider-brined and glazed turkey (while I was impressed with how tender the meat was, I couldn't detect how the cider changed the flavoring at all), mashed potatoes made with butter and cream cheese (I made these a couple days ahead and then heated them up in the oven with more butter on top mmm,gravy from the turkey recipe, this awesome sausage and parmesan cheese stuffing (I made it with all hot italian sausage but next time will do half mild and half hot as a couple of people complained it was too hot. This was another dish I prepped ahead of time and then heated up before dinner), some green salad thing, roasted green beans, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Now I'm enjoying lots of turkey sandwiches, which is really my favorite part of the holidays!

These days, I'm so much more evolved. I drink my coffee laced with sugar and coffeemate creamer. I also married Jeff, who is not a loser, although he did have a crazy college experience.

Maybe I ruined him? Nah, he is still fun loving.

Seriously, black coffee is good but I can't resist creamer with a touch of sweet. It smells so good and looks even better. Bonus points if I have a cookie.

((hold on, pause. I have to go get a cookie))

I don't know how this relates to evolution except I don't buy fat free coffeemate and I use shortening in my chocolate chip cookies. That is, unless of course, we are evolving into complete butterballs.

Monday, November 19, 2007

With the weather getting more cold and snow flying in some places, this scarf is beckoning to me. Seriously, is this not the most warm and fluffy looking scarf ever? I even like the color. So, head over to PhatSheep for contemporary textile accessories.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

We don't have lightning bugs (is that what they are even called?) here in Washington where I live or in Northern California where I grew up, but these Mason Jar Night Lights kind of made me think of a warm summer evening and catching bugs.

Geek Gear has other fun things to liven up your day, like a Floppy Disc Notepad.____________________________________________________________________

I love these earrings. If I ever changed my earrings, this is the sort I would wear. They are just so sparkly, dangly, and elegany without being pretentious.

Kneehighs-n-Pigtails Jewelry has tons of gorgeous jewelry at awesome prices. I know a lot of my girl presents will come from here. So don't go and buy everything before me. Save me some of the good stuff.____________________________________________________________________

Friday, November 16, 2007

Anybody else think these felted wool brooches are the neatest accessory? I'm not much for accessories, but I just think these are soooo cool.____________________________________________________________________

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Do you have a bride-to-be that you are buying a Christmas present for? Well, I think that this Wedding Guest Organizer by Serendipity: Beyond Design would be JUST the present for her (or for an OCD groom). This could help brides across the world avoid "oops" like the one discussed on Swistle.

I promise to blog about more than Etsy one of these days. I have my hands in too many fires at the moment and Etsy is fun and pretty effortless.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Sarah over at No Whey Mama asked about wooden toys. You know, I hadn't even THOUGHT about wooden toys for some reason. I love wooden toys. I prefer them over plastic stuff (who wouldn't?). We used to have a lot of wooden stuff but our other dog chewed them all up. It just seems like they emit a lot more life than plastic toys. It doesn't solve the lead issue, because who really knows these days, you know, but still, they are awesome.

So, here is a small collection of wooden toys that I think are neat over at Etsy.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Have I got something cool for you all today (and by the way, I think I just realized that I use "cool" waaayyyyyy too often, I also use "so" too much). Anyways, I digress.

We built our house as an investment and plan to move on to the next project in a few years. What does this mean? No painting anything crazy colors or neat (I almost used cool) murals on the walls for the girls. Basically, we need to keep things in a manner that would appeal to a wide mass of people.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Now that I am back in the residing with dog world, I guess I have to get with the "buying of silly animal items" madness. Luckily for me, Annabelle is too big to carry in my purse, and I carry a BIG purse.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Once upon a time, Jeff and I used to go to this diner near our old house for breakfast on occasion. They always had these cool signs up for sale that had neat sayings on them. Anyways, these signs by Off Woodland Lane are sort of the same only more cool because they are personalized. And, I think the price is totally reasonable.

Friday, November 09, 2007

We weren't looking, we weren't even considering. We had thought about it as a possibility at some point but not any time soon. So boy were we surprised.

We've officially been adopted by this sweet girl named Annabelle.

Welcome to our home. We are sure you will be a great addition to our family of three girls and one boy. Poor Jeff, overwhelmed by the females (although I know he likes it this way).

There is a super-long story about how she had registration tags but the phone number was expired so I hunted, err... tracked the owner down via Myspace. Turns out it was a PREVIOUS owner but the dog had gone to live with their mom. The mom has some health issues and two other big dogs so she was willing to let Annabelle come live with us. But anyway, she can our house home.

Did you know that I went to a program for ceramics after high school? It was the California State Summer School for the Arts. You had to submit slides of your work and all that jazz. Looking back, I have no idea how I ever was accepted because I SUCKED.

Anyways, this lady doesn't suck. So go and visit Marymee Studio and check her stuff out. This is one of my favorites.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

While I'm not a huge fan of shoes for babies, I do think they need something to keep their feet warm during the winter. Besides, what is more cute than a baby wearing SHOES? It is like dog wearing a hat, just CUTE!.

So, yesterday, we had a dog come up to the house and was looking in all the doors and windows. She had tags so I figured she would eventually return to her home. I finally took a closer look at her tags and she is registered two counties away. I called on her tags this morning and she is from Vashon Island, a ferry ride away. They gave me her owner's number so I called but the number is disconnected. I'm going to hang a couple of signs to see if her owner's moved here and she got lost.

Jeff, my husband with the heart of steel, has even fallen for her (although he won't admit it). He made her a bed last night and wanted to know if she needed a space heater out on the porch. He also gave her our leftover rice and meat for dinner.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Do you love hilarious art prints that are also GORGEOUS? Thank go visit Mikeatron's Etsy shop. Even better for me, he is a Seattle artist and I live just outside of Seattle. So, not only am I buying ART but LOCAL ART. Two wins!

I'm seriously thinking about getting one for my husband to display in his office.

Maybe this one or perhaps this one. I think my father-in-law might enjoy this one.

I might have to decorate D's backpack with these since she is one of FOUR girls in her class that have the SAME backpack.

Gah. We are a state of non-wanting-to-pay-taxes-people. Which I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND. I don't want to pay them, either, but I DO!

At our last local election there was a bond that the school district wanted to get passed. It was HUGE in dollars but big in what was to be accomplished. In my county, we have the LARGEST 10-12 grade school in the state. And we're not Seattle. We're not King County. This bond would hve provided funds to build a second high school which would make us have the TWO LARGEST 10-12 grade schools in the state. The bond would have also rebuilt the elementary school that Darsie will most likely go to as well as fix many roofs and upgrade technology wiring at most of the schools. And the vote had the majority. However, Washington does not go by simple majority for these things and while it had over 50% of yeses from voters, it did not have 60%.

So anyways, yesterdays elections there was a referendum to change it to a simple majority vote. Which would have been AWESOME.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

I'm going to post cool items from Etsy. I LOVE Etsy. Seriously, I mean where else can you find such a collection of cool items, HANDMADE items? Nowhere, that is where.

Ok, so my first item from Etsy is created by the lovely and fabulous Kara (also the blogger at Baa Baa Black Sheep). She creates awesome acrylic, watercolor, etc. paintings. I'd like to buy Sneak myself, I just have to figure out where it would go.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

I own one cookbook, that I got today. It was my grandma's Better Homes cookbook (that is the one with the red and white checkered pattern, right?). Well, in reality, two cookbooks if you count the spiral bound collection of recipes that my fifth grade class put together (my recipe was mini pizzas made with English muffins). Suprisingly, this book has the BEST recipe for Scottish shortbread I have ever had (you should see my handwritten note about it, I spelled Scottish - Scotish and sugar - surgar).

Fast forward to today and my one cookbook. I get most of my recipes from the Internet (Food Network and now Epicurious reign supreme [did anyone get that Iron Chef reference, huh?] as well as a motley crew of food blogs). I copy them from whatever site and, get this, send MYSELF an e-mail. THEN, I tag that e-mail with the label "recipe" and archive it. Ingenious.

Well, not really.

When I want to make a recipe, I print it out. Then, it is kept indefinitely in a three-ring binder on my counter. Problem is, I lost my hole punch a gazillion years ago so none of the recipes are actually punched and put into the binder. The recipes I like are on the left side of the binder and the ones I hope to never make again are on the right hand side.

I would love to do something real with my collection of tried and true recipes. However, I'm resistant to do something permanent since all of my recipes evolve. I love the idea of these, but I know they would get all nastified (I have a bad habit of putting spoons or spatulas down on the paper recipes are printed on...my recipe collection is..well, you probably don't care) and I would be too tempted to write notes on the recipes.

On Monday, the girls and I took a trip to the Seattle Aquarium. It had been ages since we had last been, perhaps even two years. We joined up with my parents and took the Bremerton ferry over to Seattle. It is an hour trip but it is so beautiful and relaxing...unless you have children to watch over of course, especially a three-year old that thinks it is snack time every time you take the ferry somewhere.

The aquarium was great. It obviously has been a LONG TIME since we were last there because it had undergone a pretty dramatic remodel, at least the front part since the back area is exactly the same. The cool part is there is a huge aquarium as soon as you buy your ticket and it just so happened that they had a diver in the tank just as we were there. Darsie LOVED it! The diver played peek-a-boo with her and was just very cool.

Darsie's favorite parts were the tide pool exhibits where you can touch the creatures and also the octopus exhibits. We tried to catch the feeding in the globe aquarium (imagine being inside a snowglobe with fish swimming around you outside of the globe) but by this time Darsie was starving and uncooperative. After a quick lunch, we returned to the aquarium and hit up the seals, sea otters, and river otters.

We came home with a stuffed octopus (dubbed Legs) that Darsie is enamored with. I promise pictures, but I have to run and get us all ready. The new Costco is opening up and we are going for hot dogs or something. At least it will get us out of the house, right?

+++++++++++++And my questions. My niece's birthday is coming up (I can't remember at the moment if she is turning 9 or 10 - BAD AUNT!) and I am a horrible gift giver, HORRIBLE! So, ideas? She is a girly girl.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

I've recently been wearing these from Old Navy. I am short and so, guess what, I get the short version. I loooove them so much that I have two pairs in different shades. I just noticed that Old Navy is selling a wide-leg version that I will have to check out. They don't ride so low you have to worry about how much butt you are showing or go so high you don't have to wear a top. They hold my muffin top in nicely as well.

My husband reads this so I think I might start dropping a hint or two. Or three or four. Love you Big Daddy Long Legs!

I really didn't want to come off so negative in my last post. I thought about it during my shower this morning and decided to show you what is making me laugh and smile today and everyday (and some days pull my hair out!).

How do you tell a three-year old that the pink shoes she has been talking about for MONTHS aren't going to happen? A couple of weeks ago, D's PT told us that the shoes were back ordered. Yesterday we were told that instead of pink, she would be getting white with pink trim (and by the way, this is totally NOT D's PT's fault). I don't really mind white with pink trim but I'm not sure what Darsie will think. I guess she will like most anything better than the blue ones she is currently borrowing. It really isn't a big deal, it just seems like it when it is impossible for us to just go out and pick out any pair of shoes.

Another bit of unfairness. Special needs equipment is soooooo expensive and this kid has had his swing stolen twice now.

And since this post is such a downer of a post....we didn't go trick or treating last night. I don't know if Darsie was scared or confused by the costumes, but she wouldn't have anything to do with the chef costume that she had picked out. Total bummer.

Friday, October 26, 2007

I always wear flip flops or Doc Martens, so this doesn't really apply to me. I mean, I do need to get my toenails painted, but that is besides the point.

Shoes are a real battle for us. Why? Because Darsie wears a DAFO(in fact, besides color and ribbons, it is very similar to the one featured on this page). ONE, as in singular. What does this mean? This means that one foot is much wider and also longer than the other foot. Meaning, shoes are difficult for her. Normally her feet are very slender, like mine. I always had a hard time finding shoes that didn't fall off (hence the non-seasonal wearing of flip flops).

I belong to a bunch of CP message boards and there is ALWAYS talks about what shoes work best with AFO/DAFO's, etc.. A lot of people find luck with cheap shoes at Walmart, or Payless Shoe Source, or with Vans, or Converses. I've tried everything and anything I could find. I took D to countless shoe stores.

Our problem, as mentioned above, is that one foot is pretty normal, although she could use to wear a shoe with a more narrow width, and one foot is HUGE! So, not only do we need TWO entirely different sizes because of the DAFO, but we would need two entirely different WIDTHS.

Luckily for us, our PT had a solution. There aren't many companies out there that make shoes to fit over orthotics, but Hatchbacks does. One of the best things is that we can order a pair of shoes of two completely different sizes for the price of, get this, ONE pair! And because of how they fit over the orthotic, we don't need two different widths.

We've been borrowing this pair from from our PT but we just ordered this pair. Darsie wanted pink and all.

It is nice to have a solution. One thing I've found out from the special needs community (I hate that term...but what else can I use - differently abled? To me, that is just, if not more lame. And Darsie is clearly not disabled), is that because one solution works for some, doesn't mean it won't work for others.

On a side note for those of us who use or children use DAFO/AFO/orthotics, what do you do with them when they are outgrown? My PT collects them and donates them to foreign countries where children couldn't afford them.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

We've been living in our house since.. oh, April. That means almost 7 WHOLE MONTHS. And guess what, do you remember that commercial where the elderly couple sat at their window watching the young couple that just moved in to their new house "get it on" because you know, they didn't have any window coverings. Yeah, well, that is Jeff and I. Not the "getting it on" part at least because, you know, you are the internet and all and my mom always told me crazy people were on the internet (how is THAT for a run on sentence and grammatical errors up the WAZOO).

Anyways, so yeah. No window coverings. It didn't used to be a problem but then Jeff and his dad had a fun time with chain saws in the backyard and now...now the neighbors can see. And our other neighbors finished their house and moved in this weekend. They don't have window coverings yet, either, though (in my defense...or something).

Do you think a purple, no, lavender suede jacket is a fashion NO, YES, or MAYBE (with beer goggles on)?

Sorry to be so sparse lately. I've been doing a lot of freelance, a lot of mothering and wifing (taking care of a food-poisoned husband), cooking, a whole lot of not sleeping, and not a whole lot of blogging.

Monday, October 15, 2007

If you happen to live in a house on a septic system, don't use powdered soap. Why you ask? Well the pipe that goes from the house to the tank becomes clogged, no PACKED with soap and therefore renders the pipe useless and you can guess what happens then.

LUCKILY, it was at a house we own but don't live in.

UNLUCKILY, it has tenants in it, so we spent Saturday at the other house with the septic company. Jeff helped dig up the lid and all that good stuff.

UNLUCKILY, we are out the $412 to clean and pump the tank.

LUCKILY, we didn't have a blown septic.

Moral of the story - powdered soap is your enemy and a monthly dose of draino is your friend.

The end.

In bloggy news...I'm working on something new and food related. I will share more as it is developed. I'm hoping to release it to the public next week.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

OMG. It was awesome. Although a bit time consuming, it was good. Good as in Jeff who hates chicken said to put it on the family favorites list.

I served it with (more) sourcream and corn chips. I think a rice side dish would be good too. I also think I will put more than 10 tortillas (I used the really small ones though, so maybe the recipe calls for larger ones, I don't remember) to give the dish more structure.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

I got my first honk today, too. Yes, I stalled. I did it just to piss you off. I knew you were in a hurry to get somewhere and I wanted to steal those 15 seconds of your life that it took me to restart and go. They are mine now and never coming back. I'm saving them in a jar right next to my jar of tears. I've wasted thousand, no millions of seconds and I'm still ok. Somedays I might even be cool. Ok, not really because I can't do text messages to my husband when the phone guesses what you are trying to type.

First of all, the new cookie pans. AWESOME! They are super heavy duty and two different sizes. Two are the normal sheet sizes and the other two are half sheet sizes. I never thought I would really use the half sheet sizes but they are GREAT! First off, applaud my healthy eating choices because the two smaller ones are PERFECT for family sized portions of buffalo chicken strips and curly seasoned fries. Hooray! They are perfect for garlic bread as well. Oh yeah, and cookies, hence the whole "cookie sheet" terminology.

Second, the whole new car thing with the manual clutch thing. I took my first maiden voyage this morning (aka. drove it all by myself without a "spotter", aka. the man who moans that I am wrecking the new car). Still am stalling on take off. Still feel like an idiot. BUT, it is getting better. And it still has the dealership cardboard plates so maybe people will have a bit of pity for me. If they don't, screw them. Seriously, sitting behind me while I restart the car doesn't eat up that much of their day. So, the asshole who rode my ass all the way home, you suck. It is nice having a car you know will start, even if you can't drive it (very well). It is a super awesome car, too. I have another outing this afternoon and while it freaks me out, pushing myself to do it is the only way I will ever get comfortable.

I wonder how long it will take to get comfortable. Please tell me soon as my poor nerves are wrecked.

Monday, October 01, 2007

When you car starts sounding like hoarse elephant all the time and it hesitates a lot, it might be time to look into replacing it. When the mechanic gives you a repair bill that is more than it is worth, it is time to look into replacing it.

Jeff and I have hemmed and hawed for MONTHS about what we are going to buy. SUV? Sedan? Used? New? By the time we were going to make a decision, we would be completely gray and needing donut cushions on our seats. Somehow we decided late Sunday afternoon to go to car hell, errr, car shopping. We bought our truck at this particular dealership so they know us, or rather, they know Jeff. You know how normally the salespeople swarm you like flies on soda-covered small children? Well, when they see Jeff, they run the other way. In short, the Land Rover is gone. Hopefully to a better home than me (not difficult). In its place, I am now driving a Dodge Nitro.

Only problem is....it is a manual and I uhmm, don't know how to drive a manual.

After last nights training session, Jeff threatened to take it back to the dealership. I am that bad. In my defense, it was late, no one had eaten, kids were crabby, and it was raining.

How am I supposed to know that you don't give it gas while shifting? Oh yeah, the whole car jumping sideways thing? Not on purpose, I swear!

On another note, I also got new cookie pans this weekend. Yay, consumerism!

Friday, September 28, 2007

I have been on a serious food kick this week, especially in the blogging world. However, it hasn't been all peaches and cream (see, chicken taco post). Also because I think Jeff has been suffering through his brown bag lunches. He even gave me a SUGGESTION about what he would like in his lunch which translates to me that he isn't enjoying the current states of affairs (his suggestion was a nacho kit, which I can understand wanting, I just don't want to grate cheese at 7 in the morning).

Tonight I am almost guaranteed a win. Why you wonder? Take out? No! PIZZA! Homemade pizza from a tried and true recipe that I make in batches and freeze. And for a bonus prize, tonight is one of the frozen ones so I have been defrosting it on the counter throughout the day and just popped it in the oven. It is a deep dish pizza so it takes awhile to defrost.

I promise to share this recipe with you but you have to PINKY swear that you will make the sauce and not use a bottled sauce. I PROMISE, it is that good, even when you leave the wine out like I do (I like wine, don't get me wrong, but I'm not going to open a bottle just for pizza). If you don't make the sauce, your results will be sub par. Also, you have to make the dough. Don't buy it unless you can buy fresh balls of it at the store or the pizzeria. Don't buy the rolls in the dairy section. Pie crust, sure, buy that it in the dairy section but NEVER pizza crust. If you do, just don't tell me. I promise not to judge.

And as always, I make changes because I see recipes as guidelines or suggestions, not RULES, except when baking of course.

Ok, so the dough. I don't own semolino flour. I don't even know if they sell it at my store, I've never even looked. I just use regular flour in its place and it comes out perfect.

While the dough is rising, make the sauce. I don't use fresh basil or oregano, just dried. Maybe next summer I will when I have a garden (lofty ambitions, I know, especially when my tomato plant from this year just now has a tomato or two on it). Also, 1 tbsp of red wine? Not necessary unless you already have a bottle cracked open.

For the toppings, do whatever makes you happy. Jeff doesn't like mushrooms or olives, so we leave those off. So we stick to pepperoni (lots), hot Italian sausage, onions, and green peppers.

Cheese - the more the merrier. I use a combo of mozzarella, parmesan or asiago, and cheddar. Because if you haven't realized yet, the motto in our household is "If it doesn't cause heart attacks, it isn't worth eating". Seriously though, you would think that we all were morbidly obeast (Jeff's term for obese) with the glorious amount of butter, cheese, milk, and other delicious and fattening foods that we consume, but we aren't. Sure, we could both stand to lose a couple of pounds each but I think we are attractive people and not disgusting.

The oldest monster is requesting some mama time and I have to check my pizza...but hopefully everyone is enjoying a delicious dinner of any nature.

Today I am going to share a pork chop dish that is good served with spanish rice (I use rice-a-roni because I have no recipes for good rice pilafs (hint, anyone have one to share?). Jeff and I normally in the past weren't pork fans, but I'm trying to find recipes for it. I don't know why, but I always think of it as dirty meat. Not so much anymore obviously.

Well, now after hearing about dirty meat, I'm sure the first thing you are going to do is rush out and try this recipe...but whatever. Anyways, here is another Giada recipe: Pork Chops alla Pizzaiola.

Here are my changes.

1. I simply brown the chops and do not bother to cook them entirely in the first step.

2. After I have added the onions and tomatoes, I put the pork chops BACK into the pan and cover the pan with a lid. I then let the whole simmer for however long I want. I will tell you that this dish improves the longer you cook it as the chops get really nice and tender. So, i would recommend cooking for at 30 minutes covered - perfect timing to get your box of rice cooked.

It is a very simple dish that I almost always have good success with.

Note to chef: Don't skimp on the red pepper flakes. Oh yeah, I don't use herbs de provence. Instead I use that garlic seasoning stuff I posted about the other day.

Seriously, it is so versatile I think you could brush your teeth with it.

So, Swistle does ear hats. Here at our house, we have one cute ear hat. Note to self, find said ear hat for photos before Elise's head outgrows it. However, we also have mullet hat.

I think I have one of Darsie wearing the hat, too. I just have to find it.

It is actually a hat not entirely composed of fake fur. Jeff wore it one winter weekend when he drove a Jeep CJ from California to Washington. The stories of that trip are hilarious (like brakes going out descending into Oregon) but in his words "At least the heater worked".

About Me

I live near Seattle, WA with my husband and our 3 kids. I stay at home with my kids and spend my time doing freelance graphic design, sewing, and cooking. I often kid that I'm a modern day Laura Ingalls Wilder.

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